Outdoors - Hunting and Fishing

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge in North Park is among 10 refuges recently opened for hunting or offering expanded hunting and fishing opportunities. The expanded programs are part of the 2011-2012 Refuge-Specific Hunting and Sport Fishing Regulations published Friday in the Federal Register. Arapaho NWR will offer elk hunting for the first time. The refuge also offers fishing and waterfowl and upland bird hunting. “The ...

Lake Elevation: 3,654 asl Water Temperature 78-83 F PAGE, Ariz. – Lake Powell has kicked off the covers. Surface water temperature first thing in the morning has dropped from 83 to 78 in the past few days. The warmest water in the afternoon has dropped from 88 down to 83. These are small steps but the lake is now headed in the right direction. Night time air temperatures are now in the 60s. Water level dropped only one foot as ...

Lake Elevation: 3,655 asl Water Temperature 80-88 F PAGE, Ariz. – Aug. 31. Lake Powell is covered by a blanket of warm water that snugly holds game fish in the cooler depths. Declining lake levels also contribute to current conditions by forcing fish down instead of bringing them up. The net result is difficult fishing conditions over most of the lake. The bright spots are around tributary inflows where deep incoming river water provides a constant temperature corridor for fish to ...

Aug. 30 – Whether it’s the final fling of summer or the first taste of the fall, the Labor Day weekend is just ahead. For anglers across most of Colorado, the traditional end-of-summer holiday may be an opportunity to enjoy three days of some good, relatively uncrowded fishing. With the arrival of September, kids for the most part are back in school. Traditional summer vacations are over and the main waves of out-of-state visitors are gone. The summer season may ...

Lake Elevation: 3,657 asl Water Temperature 79-83 F PAGE, Ariz. – It feels much better to write this report after catching a striper in a boil. It is amazing how that can change ones attitude for the better. When stripers pop to the top, adrenaline flows freely as the boat zips toward the feeding frenzy. Once in range, properly directed casts will immediately score as the bait hits the water. Then the fight is on. Attention is divided between landing the fish on the line and ...

Aug. 23 – In the dim, half light of daybreak following a dark, stormy night reminiscent of an old-time horror movie, banks of fog were hanging above the water. Fittingly enough. For somewhere in the expanses of the lake, perhaps hidden in the fog, Frankenstein’s fish might be on the prowl. A faint putt, putt, puttering of a small motor droned through the heavy mists. A boat came into view. “Have you seen the wipers, mate?” its captain queried, as a pair of anglers ...

Lake Elevation: 3,658 msl Water Temperature 78-83 F PAGE, Ariz. – It pains me to write this report as one of the “have-nots”. It is much better to be catching fish and telling others how to do it instead of just wishing for good fishing. The southern end of the lake, where I normally fish, is strangely quiet. Fish of all species are difficult to catch. There is just no ...

With mountain basins across Colorado in their full, late-summer glory, anglers, young and old, may be venturing out to sample the allure of fishing a small stream. Though other water may have larger fish and their own sets of challenges and rewards, creeks and beaver ponds offer a special charm that keeps even the most seasoned of fishermen coming back. Small-stream attractions begin with their setting, almost always in scenic mountain terrain, amid the sweet, fresh scent of pines, the ...

Lake Elevation: 3,660 msl Water Temperature 80-85 F PAGE,, Ariz. – The strict division between good fishing uplake and bad fishing downlake remains in place. The best fishing spots from last week include the main channel from Buoy 92-98 and the backs of the canyons near Hite. Shad are present in the relatively clear water of the channel where they have abundant plankton to eat. Stripers find shad schools feeding near the surface and drive them to the surface where shad are ...

If stream fishing has entered a summer slowdown, fishermen might look to the river banks to keep things hopping. Land insects – grasshoppers, beetles, ants and crickets, among others – are active along the banks of rivers, large and small, and periodically they wind up in the water. Wind, rain, perhaps an errant hop or a misstep on an overhanging branch can put a terrestrial insect into the river, where it is largely helpless in the currents. Trout (and many other types of ...

Lake Elevation: 3,660 asl Water Temperature 80-85 F PAGE, Ariz. – Powell is a lake divided into two separate fisheries. From Rainbow Bridge Canyon to Hite stripers are boiling at many locations throughout the day. But from Rainbow Bridge downlake the surface is quiet and fishing is challenging. Striper boils only happen when shad are plentiful. Our recent trawl sampling showed ...

Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife state fishing report: Channel catfish are found in almost all warm-water reservoirs and ponds in Colorado, and even in the lower reaches of rivers on both sides of the Continental Divide. Some select lakes also have blue catfish. Catfish are hardy. They thrive where conditions for other fish may be marginal, and they might be most active when fishing for other species is entering its summer doldrums. And good catfish-fishing opportunities may be as ...

Lake Elevation: 3,660 (msl) Water Temperature: 79-83 F PAGE, Ariz. – Lake Powell has leveled off at 3,660 (MSL) marking an increase of 50 vertical feet in the 160 mile long lake. Fish will enjoy the extra water for a long time to come. The lake surface has warmed to 80 degrees. Lake level stabilization will help fishing next month but this week fish are deep trying to avoid the warm water. The best fishing location on the lake this week is in the mid section near Bullfrog. ...

Colorado Division of Wildlife and Parks For runoff-weary fishermen, the waiting is almost over. Rivers that have been swollen with runoff from the exceptionally heavy snow that blanketed much of the state last winter are receding. Though most still are well above their long-term average for the date, their volume has been dropping, and the water is becoming clear enough for fishing. Though the effects of the record runoff might be a mixed blessing in the short term, in the longer ...

Mule deer and pronghorn herds along the Colorado/Wyoming border are declining and will continue to do so unless core habitats are better protected, says a new study by the National Wildlife Federation. The report, “Population Status and Trends of Big Game along the Colorado/Wyoming State Line,” was prepared by former Colorado Division of Wildlife biologists John Ellenberger and Gene Byrne. “We are concerned that at some point, the resiliency of these herds to recover will ...

Lake Elevation: 3,660 asl Water Temperature: 78-83 F PAGE, Ariz. – Fishing is improving – slowly and steadily. We survived the full moon period where catching was slow to nonexistent. Now we are heading into much better conditions with lake level stabilizing, water temperature leveling off and shad growing larger. The variables combine to make it easy to predict good fishing times ahead. Here is what to expect. The headline news in summer is surface feeding by striped bass. ...

Don’t tell Randy Newberg you can’t find a place to hunt elk. Newberg, who calls himself “the average hunter,” is featuring Colorado elk hunting on this week’s version of his TV show, “On Your Own Adventures.” In particular, the Bozeman, Mont., resident is featuring a third-season rifle hunt last year on Grand Mesa. According to the Division of Parks and Wildlife, Newberg and his brother last fall purchased a pair of over-the-counter bull elk ...

By JOEL EVANS GUNNISON — The summer fishing is very good on the Gunnison River. Mark Williams of Dan’s Fly Shop in downtown Gunnison said the best fishing now and for a few weeks is the Neversink and Coopers Ranch section of the river west of town. “This lower section is nearly clear now and fishing well,” said Sullivan, who can be reached at 970-642-4223. “Aggravate them with a big dry such as a Stimulator, followed by a 20-incher or anything with ...

By JOEL EVANS MONTROSE — Do you want the complete package? One local cable company temptingly offers the “Triple Play,” a complete-package deal for all three services they offer. Interested in an even better deal? Try this version of the complete-package triple play: One river — the Gunnison — with three very different kinds of fishing water. Part one of the package is the upper Gunnison north of the town of Gunnison. Part two is the middle Gunnison west ...

For river fishermen across Colorado, the wait goes on. Virtually all free-flowing rivers still are running bank-full and off-color, and even the South Platte tailwaters, which for a number of weeks provided the best stream-fishing conditions in the state, have risen to above-average flows for early July as the reservoirs above them have filled. Even so, the end may be in sight. While plenty of snow remains at high elevations, many veteran river watchers believe the flows have crested. ...